Getting a Handel on Twitter
The only thing more humiliating than a public figure’s gargantuan screwup-by-retweet (see above) is an alert citizen grabbing a screen shot of it before the perp’s hapless attempt to scrub it.
When not embarrassing herself on Twitter, Karen Handel, the now famous, Palin-endorsed former gubernatorial candidate and reactionary from Georgia, has been busy making liars out of her new employers at the Komen Foundation. The latter, inexplicably, thought it a great idea to put a right-wing pro-life zealot in charge of developing policy for women’s health care
The lavishly compensated Komen CEO may spin all she likes about how she doesn’t consider cancer screenings for lower income women “high impact,” and how cowardice constitutes “high standards,” but Handel herself would seem to not merit association with Komen by those alleged standards. Nor, one assumes, will the foundation help itself to any more cash from Bank of America—a corporation facing investigations from the feds as well as all 50 state AGs. As in real investigations of wrongdoing, not ideologically motivated fishing expeditions and harassment.
The most effective way to fight back is not via useless “petitions” that accomplish nothing and serve only to swell the spam lists of political non-profit groups. If you are able, and really want to make a difference, join me here.
Surprises about Planned Parenthood cancer testing — http://apnews.myway.com/article/20120204/D9SMARJ00.html
Put *that* in your pipe, and smoke it, Handel. beth.
Great article: http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/breast-cancer-business-scams?src=soc_fcbks
I’m beginning to think that maybe this whole mess was not such a bad thing after all.
There seem to be a lot of right wing little secrets that SGK has been hiding that are starting to be revealed because of the scrutiny. The stem cell research de-funding would likely have remained under the radar without this controversy. I’ve also read about the staggering percentage of funds that goes toward administrative costs rather than to the services and research people who donate expect to support.
If the people who have previously supported SGK through donations, by participating in events, or purchasing pink ribbon products continue to donate but choose other related charities instead, this might not have been such a disaster in the end. Perhaps a larger portion of their donations will actually end up doing the work for which it was intended!
how is it, that Conservatives research studies (breast screening has little impact on breast cancer prevention or early detection) but they can spout screw ball stats.about every one of their talking points from,the unsubstantiated percentage of drug addicted welfare recipients to the claim that the majority of prison inmates are children of single mother’s: thank you Ann Coulter;the Master of the fabricated, National Enquirer type fantasy claims that keep Conservatives fired up regardless of the fact that there is absolutely no grounds for her sound bites as fact.Coulter has no credence with republicans;they use her to suck in the neo-Cons.,which she does via Fox news & Sean Hannity:even O’reilly argues with her. Coulter hates women. She wants the stage to herself like all narcissists.Coulter would poison her own mother:she’s,ruthless,smart & ambitious.She’s realized Palin as a hack & sees her opportunity to fill the void left by Bachmann & Palin.Coulter must know where a lot of politicians skeletons are buried including Mitt and Gingrich.
http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/03/10311538-might-be-too-little-too-late-for-komen-bioethicist-says
“There is one last step that can be taken to save the mighty Komen from running aground permanently. The entire executive leadership and board must resign. Now. Anything less means that the prominence that Komen achieved will become simply one more in a long list of worthy causes that Americans may or may not choose to support.”
Yep, Brinker and the rest have to go, too or screw Komen forever.
Over on Huffington Post, the conservatives who donated to Komen yesterday are furious that the decision has been reversed. They are threatening not to donate in the future. The Komen Foundation really made a mess of this. Funding has now dried up from the left and the right.
Also too, Karen Handel needs to be fired.
Let them eat pink cake!
I hope they ask for their money back. I bet they are! Hee hee.
🙂
SINK the PINK! Donate to Planned Parenthood instead.
Too late Komen! I may have softened had you admitted what you did was political, but the continued spin just cost you a lifetime avoidance of pink ribbons and races from me.
I hope they go down in flames. Now I’ve seen too many stories about their sneaky nut job agendas to believe anything coming out of that place now. I emailed them again this morning with the same message. Up yours Komen!
My prediction: They’ll never be able to stuff that pink genie back in that beribboned bottle. SKG for the (pretend) cure — be damned.
So -today’s news is that this Komen outfit has spiffied up their definition of an investigation to mean that “disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair. ”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03/susan-g-komen-planned-parenthood_n_1252651.html
and restored some kind of relationship with PP.
I can’t tell what kind cuz it’s got some language which doesn’t say anything concrete for all the words it is comprised of- something like this year , ok and next year, who knows?
Pffft.
No pinkie food or whatever for this old broad before and not now or in the future.
PP , here comes another lil donation!
what old broad ??? I saw a thin spring chicken running me ragged over the Alaskan landscape ! 🙂
I believe this is a publicity stunt and nothing more. So they put PP back on the list of grant requests they will entertain? All they have to do is deny every one. As long as Karen Handel is on the team, every move they make should be judged as political. Further, all this controversy has exposed more of Komen’s underlying agenda, which should further isolate them from the women’s health “industry”. I hope that thinking people don’t “forgive and forget” in this case. I’m not being vindictive here, but acting on principle.
They have reversed their decision!!
Under Pressure, Cancer Foundation Reverses Course After Cutting Off Planned Parenthood
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03/susan-g-komen-planned-parenthood_n_1252651.html
you beat me to it Irish!
Am thinking it is too little too late but we’ll see.
I agree! The damage has been done.
They’ll still never get anything more from me. Sorry, SGKF — notwithstanding GWBs so eloquently stated, “Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again”, I say: Screwing me once, SGKF, was once too many. beth.
When a family member or good friend screws up, I forgive them and we carry on as we always have. Our dynamics might be a wee bit changed, but what’s done is done, and there’s no dwelling on it, rehashing it, or bringing it up again. They have my full confidence and full trust as we go forward.
When an acquaintance, co-worker, organization, or business entity that I *have* to interact with, screws up, I will (metaphorically) hold my nose and deal with them, but I never again give them my confidence or my trust.
When a business or organization I *voluntarily* associate with, screws up, that’s it; they had their chance, and they blew it — I take my ‘business’ elsewhere and never give the screw-ups a second thought. Ever. I do this because I can…I’m an old lady.
For me, no matter how SGKFoundation tries to spin their actions of recent doing, no matter what they say or do to try to get back in the good graces of donors (and the public’s eye), no matter what hoops they jump through to woo people back to their ’cause’, no matter how nicely they sugar-coat their ongoing activities to garner support, I’ll have none of it. They had their chance and they betrayed my trust; they can *never* gain it back. I have un-friended SGKF. Permanently.
As I said, I’m an old lady. To be more precise, I’m a crotchety old lady who can choose to dismiss SGKF forever from my life if I want to. And because they screwed up *big*-time, that is exactly what I choose. I feel ever so much better for having done so. beth.
The National Review confirms that this move was indeed very political:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/290022/pink-ribbon-win-editors
I don’t have the link but Sara Jones at PoliticusUSA has a great article up about SGK and Karen Handel.
Here it is:
http://www.politicususa.com/en/pallin-around-with-voter-purging-susan-g-komens-dirty-leadership-secret
Always glad to read Sarah Jones.
Thanks for posting the link~
yw. anytime.
Susan……EXACTLY…..PP has prevented more unwanted pregnancies than it ever has performed abortions. Many women, in areas like mine, get their primarily female health needs, all of them, at the PP.
I am outraged and appalled by this decision. I have listened to Brinker in her defense, and for me it just does not make any sense at all. If they were unhappy with how PP was submitting data, then they would have worked with PP to show them how to collect and report that data in a way that they wanted.
The biggest issue for me…is just how far and deep that long arm of the right wing conservative radicals really is. That they could have this much influence on an organization that is to be NON political is appalling…and to tell you the truth, has me very concerned.
Oh, and I too just gave a donation to my local PP.
Cheer up,it gets worse as Walker’s crew in Wisconsin appointed a new administrator of public health @ Wisconsin department of health services. This oncology nurse has no training in public health,but she was a graduate/fellow at the Heritage Foundation. According to the dingbat that appointed her she has abilities to guide the dept in times of declining government funding. The government funding declined because rwnj guv Walker declined 47 million dollars to help pay for low income health insurance. RWNJ in Iowa have gotten rid of nursing home inspectors because their campaign contributors who own the homes don’t want to be bothered with fines for patient neglect,etc. I suspect every state with nutters in charge can boast of the same disregard for humans versus ideology.
Karen Handel needs to go.
LOL- mike. I’m sure you already knew not to do something to get a bunch of women angry.
I’m not going to stop wearing pink – I like it because it was my mother’s favorite color and whenever I wear it, I think of her. But I won’t be wearing it during times that SGK is promoting anything they are doing.
And my friends who have walked in those three day walks for quite a few years and always ask me to sponsor them won’t be getting anything from me. I hope, actually, that they rethink their involvement and stop participating. And I fully intend to tell them how I feel about this latest attack on women.
I suspect that because SGK got away with pulling funding for stem cell research, they thought they could get away with this latest stunt. Well, surprise – that miscalculation backfired. And now we are watching them trying to clarify their message in a way that will save their jobs. Hmm, it doesn’t seem to be working very well, does it.
Honestly, my jaw hit the floor when I heard what they had done. What always surprises me is that they are some women who defend this sort of stupid thinking. I just don’t get it.
Remind me never to get a bunch of women upset,especially about a cause so near and dear to their hearts. Our system of governance needs more passionate,articulate women’s voices and far less rwnj automatons(take that rage against the machines Palin fool). No more pink tees for my Granddaughters and no more Yoplait for mikey,
Classical music anyone? How about Handel’s Messiah(Complex) in G-whiz?
Wow, this is another mouthdropping article. This move Komen did so quietly, “this is a decision they quietly slipped in during November 2011.” A MUST read!:
Susan G. Komen Foundation Also Stops Funding Embryonic Stem Cell Research
http://www.care2.com/causes/susan-g-komen-foundation-also-stops-funding-embryonic-stem-cell-research.html
In addition to pulling funds from Planned Parenthood for The Susan G. Komen Foundation also decided to stop funding embryonic stem cell research centers making it fully transparent the organization has evolved from non-political non-profit to a partisan advocacy organization.
That means the loss of $3.75 million to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, $4.5 million to the University of Kansas Medical Center, $1 million to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, $1 million to the Society for Women’s Health Research, and $600,000 to Yale University. That’s a loss of nearly $12 million dollars in research money to eradicate breast cancer this year alone.
…more there…
While not an organization that lost funds, Penn State(under investigation) is still receiving research funds from SGK.
So what. PSU is still a first class university, and a great majority of its students and alumni are first class, productive people. I disagree with how the Penn State BOT scapegoated the late Joe Paterno, but PSU has nothing to do with the Komen debacle. As a PSU Alum (class of 77), I find your attempt to drag PSU into this matter to be both irrelevant and petty.
The point is, Komen stated that they would not donate funds to any org that was under investigation. A review of the orgs they donate to, all but one are under investigation… yet only PP was being targeted to lose funding from Komen… coupled with the recent addition of a VP with a strong anti-abortion opinion… Komen’s decision is purely political…. and the blowback is tremendous. Look to see their donations drop out from under them,
With all this attention hopefully still more light will be shown on this organization and into ALL corners.
Having a good friend as a survivor I have looked at many parts of this issue differently. This is one more area to delve into.
Here’s a list of their partners:
http://ww5.komen.org/corporatepartners.aspx
These link to the program name & description, and many link to the partner’s websites. I am emailing the ones I do business with and telling them they are on boycott notice.
It’s quite the list!
Ditto, and thanks much for the link. This really needs to circulate.
Here’s a nice polemic:
http://www.ginandtacos.com/2012/02/02/race-for-the-cure-to-being-relevant/
“The Susan G. Komen Foundationtm has been on my personal shitlist for many years [link to “Pinkwashed” post from 2008]. If this is what it takes to get you on the heretofore lonely Screw Komen bandwagon, so be it. But you should not have a low opinion of Komentm because of their announcement on Wednesday. You should have a low opinion of them because they’re a fake charity run like any other company with a product to sell. In this case the product is a combination of guilt, pity, and hope dissolved in a weak acid and dyed a nauseating pink.”
The really stupid thing is that Planned Parenthood has probably prevented more abortions than any other organization on the planet. This thing about affordable birth control being available to those who need it works pretty well.
Bingo! That, and offering –at drastically reduced cost or free!– basic healthcare/reproductive care to women (and men) sure makes a difference, too. beth.
Exactly! It’s good for men too. Sliding scale testing for stds, and my grandsons who are teenagers have been dragged there by my daughter to get educated. ☺ Women who don’t have health insurance rely on PP for their annual exams.
This one really, really bothers me.
I’ve never supported Komen and not really realized what it is supposed to be, let alone what it is.
I have always supported PP.
I have buried many important women in my life, women who died of breat cancer.
I have many family , friends, and aquaintances who are breast cancer survivors.
This disease in all of it’s forms affects everyone of us at some level and some yahoo bunch of comfortable , insured types think a witch hunt (you can call it an investigation if you want, but you’ll have to change the meaning of the word) by a bully Congressman is adequate reason to deny women (and men) of no to moderate means of screening?
Hope Komen goes down.
Sending PP another donation.
I can’t stand this crap.
Planned Parenthood is one of the most useful organizations in this country serving the health needs of women. They deserve maximum support.
TRUTH.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/purpose-ceo-susan-g-komen-foundation-got-it-wrong-134/2012/02/02/gIQAHU3rkQ_video.html?tid=pm_national_vid
This is exactly how they work – these whack nuts who are determined to foist their religious beliefs on all…they have also discovered that if involved in healthcare organizations of any type then they can hide behind HIPAA in many ways.
What’s the saying? “Religion is like a penis. Good for you if you have one but no one appreciates your waving it around all the time and trying to shove down everyone else’s throats.”
I love that! The one I remember is “…good to have one, and OK to be proud of it…”
I read on another site that last year SGK brought in over $400 million and $75 million actually went to programs to cure cancer. That is not a good record. For years I have talked about how much I respected her sister for honoring her promise to Susan. Now, in light of reading that she made a salary of $475,000 last year, I have lost ALL respect I had for her.
I just heard the head of NOW say that in 5 years SGK will be gone, as they have lost huge numbers of supporters in this one stupid move. I don’t know that I agree with that, but I do think they will have to do a major housecleaning to get any measure of public support again. The pink ribbon went from a good thing to a badge of shame. I can’t help but believe that Yoplait will be a major redesign of their containers immediately. I know I will no longer spend more money for their brand like I have done for a long time.
I also have seen the records of how much the sister gave to the GOP and various GOP candidates over the last few years….she clearly is a very political person. I watched her interview with Andrea Mitchell and it was so obvious she was lying and trying to spin what she has to know was a huge mistake.
I agree with AKM…there are lots of organizations out there that do a much better job using donations as they were intended to be used.
I seriously doubt my opinion about Komen would make it out of moderation. IMO, all cancer charities are a scam. They don’t WANT cures, they want cash; tons of it if possible.
They can take their pink ribbons and put ’em where the sun don’t shine.
And as for Jade Morey, I think that’s a misspelling. Must be Jade Moron. Anyone insensitive enough to put pro-abortion (which no one is) and bomb throwing in the same sentence, after all the clinics that have been bombed, literally and figuratively … I can’t go on. I’ll blow a gasket.
I agree – they don’t really want a cure. I think we’d have it by now, seriously.
Perhaps those that can confirm 80% of their funding does go to research would qualify?
Maybe 85%?
I agree about Komen, but not all cancer charities are scams. I give to Dr. Susan Love’s Army of Women; they are into research and education. And I donate to University of Nebraska Med Center Research program, under Dr. Julie Vose- she and her team developed the autogeneous process of stem cell transplant. It saved my sister and gave her 7cancer-free years.
My Komen donation went to Planned Parenthood; the pro-lifers can make up the donations, since they are thrilled with Komen’s decision.
I am a breat cancer survivor; My mom and her first cousin, my great aunt and my sister lost their battles with this disease.
Oops.I mean “breast” 😉
My mother survived breast cancer for over a decade. I realized how much scamming goes on in that world after she died. She got an infection (bacterial and yeast) that did her in rapidly, but truly, her will to live was gone. She was prone to saying things like, “WhoEVER wanted to be this OLD?” She went peacefully, relatively speaking. About a month later, I got a copy of her death certificate. It listed cause of death as breast cancer, which was definitely, totally untrue. I realized then that if a woman ever has breast cancer, it will be listed as cause of death, no matter what really kills her (including old age).
No, not all cancer charities are scams, but the huge ones, like Komen, with their outsized executive pay and pink ribbon logos on poisonous food, cosmetics, etc., certainly qualify.
Please read this blog website. It is very good! For example, did you know that “Promise Me” perfume, plugged by Komen to fund their cause, contains known, potent carcinogens so dangerous, they are banned by the International Fragrance Association?
There are a lot of stats including Form 990 reports on their spending.
http://butterbeliever.com/2011/10/22/i-will-not-be-pinkwashed-why-i-do-not-support-susan-g-komen-for-the-cure/
Wow. You are right – that’s an eye opener.
http://ww5.komen.org/AboutUs/AboutUs.html
“Thanks to events like the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® and the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure®, and generous contributions from our partners, sponsors and fellow supporters, we have become the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world. ”
Oh yeah. No wonder Handel is there.
You can go here and send an email. I imagine they’ve had a few thousand of those – why not more?
http://ww5.komen.org/Contact.aspx
1) Donate to Planned Parenthood or send them a supportive email…check!
2) Write to Komen Org & tell them they’ve lost my support…check! (I said a lot more than that)
3) Boycott pink ribbons and Cure races…will do!
4) Spread the word…will do!
I think boycotts of corporate sponsors and partners are appropriate also.
The Komen Foundation gets nothing from me, ever til they change this. No pink ribbon anythings, no races. I know lots of women who will drop out of previously very popular races. Putting a zealot into a position related to health care is mixing politics, health and religion into a toxic soup. This makes me completely mistrust the entire foundation. I wonder how much Ms. Handel gets paid? If it’s over 5 bucks, it’s too much.
How ’bout a conspiracy theory? The Dominionists have been eyeing big project fundraising organizations for a long time and they are part of the plan to take over the world! Those big organizations have a lot of money and clout at their disposal & all of that can be manipulated slowly to undo social non profit work, scientific progress, cultural programs & attitudes in addition to manipulating health care policy to match their group ambitions. Pinky and the Holy Brain! I’m mostly joking of course.
That’s not so much of a conspiracy theory as you may think. A friend of a friend used to work for the National Organization for Women. In fact, she worked for them for years and years till she was edged out. In about 2005 she began to note that the leadership and policies were beginning to take a distinct turn to the right. This continued as the new leadership began to push out people with democratic, liberal, progressive, alternative, or even people with a different “non-new-world order” viewpoints
She stayed on board, hoping she could help things would turn around. But by 2010 it was obvious the right-wing ladies were in complete control. She was very uncomfortable, as well as disgusted, and left the organization.
When I heard about this I did a bit of research and found this article on Palingates:
http://palingates.blogspot.com/2010/04/current-now-president-terry-oneill.html
Which ultimately led me to this website, home of the Right’s attempt to co-opt the feminist movement by creating an organization of women run by conservative right-leaning women, trying to pretend they’re centrist.
http://www.thenewagenda.net
Made me want to gag….
There’s a certain awful symmetry between Komen’s decision to shaft poor women at the exact same time that Mitt Romney is declaring that he’s “not concerned about the very poor because they have a safety net.”
Disgusting debacle. I suspect that the Komen foundation has damaged its reputation beyond repair. Serves them right. Politics do NOT belong in medicine!
And that goes for the Catholic church also. Rick Santorium is on Pierce Morgan tonight, and is blasting our president. Someone should explain to Santorium about women’s rights!!
Well written AKM (as usual) & thanks for the links, especially to make it easier for me to donate to PP. I used to donate to PP every paycheck before I retired.
Back in the late ’80s the United Way decided to eliminate PP from the donor selections we could make via our City of Seattle paychecks. Many of us employees, men included, stopped donating altogether to United Way. We all simply mailed ALL our charity $ to PP by mailing them our personal checks.
By the next year, after realizing how MUCH of a funding loss they had taken, United Way reinstalled PP as a donation selection. I think Koman is going to find a similar situation in their future.
It’s disappointing that a charity would forget their mission and play politics. Does Komen no longer care about all women in the quest to eliminate breast cancer? Would they turn away a woman who had once had an abortion and turn a blind eye to her early diagnosis? I’m afraid that “The Cure” no longer has the same ring that it once had for me. I think I’ll give money directly to those organizations that can help women and eliminate the middle-politically-biassed woman in the process.
I sent a letter to Komen stating that although I have supported them financially as well as by volunteering, I will no longer do so and will make my FIRST ever donation to Planned parenthood. Thanks for the link AKM, I used it to send a donation to PP!
These twits have always been around. They’re usually drama queens, bossy, too involved, over protective, stifled idiots. In fact whatserface is one – on steroids. We grew up in lots of small towns and they were always there. We have a family friend who annoys the hell out of this type and does it sarcastically, with a smile, perfectly. Snap!
I donated – yay! Don’t assume that someone with the same body parts thinks like you do!
That Jade Morey twit, who looks like the prototypical southern gal HS cheerleader turned socialite, is a classic Sarah Palin type, using Twitter to insult and display her inner Satan.
You’re right, her body parts may be like ours, but her soul sure isn’t.
Dumber than a rock that one. There is no “pro-abortion group” rock brain, it’s about pro choice. It’s a big concept, I know – one that seems to be beyond your grasp!
You done Satan a grave injustice.
My only hope is this exposes the Komen foundation and shows the world what these so called ‘cancer cure’ charities are really up to.
They are billion dollar businesses and believe me you are not going to see any ‘cure’ coming from them for a very long time, if ever. Like the repugs, it’s all about the money. The people who run Komen are multi-millionaires and live very, very well.
So who care’s if the most neediest of women have to go without medical care…they don’t as long as their pockets get stuffed.
Women’s worst enemies aren’t men——they’re women!
You have that right!!!!!!!!
Sadly, sometimes, yes.